Path to Self Destruction
by Silver the Kid
Summary: Jounouchi struggles to gain respect and make something of himself, but when he goes back to his old gang he starts to lose control over his life. rated for violence and major drug use.
1. chapter 1

Path of Self Destruction

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A/N: Ok, I'm just telling you all right here, right now: DRUGS ARE NOT COOL. I don't support drugs or do them, despite the fact that drugs are like the center of this story. Same goesfor drinking, despite the fact I do drink, but dammit, I'm legal…in…Quebec. Anyway, I just wanted to let you readers now that I'm not suggesting you do drugs, so yeah…those of you that do, that's fine- if I have any of this in here wrong, let me know- I'm not going from my own experience, I'm going by others.

Disc: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! And thank your lucky stars I don't.

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Chapter 1

The door creaked as it opened, making the boy cringe. He hoped his father wouldn't wake up from the noise, but the man was probably passed out for the night. Jounouchi Katsuya flopped onto his bed, still wearing his shoes (despite the fact that you're not to do that, but it was safer for his feet if he did) and released a long sigh.

This was his first time being home after Battle City. He had been thinking a lot during his time in Battle City about all sorts of things. Like how he was never respected by anyone no matter how good he was at duel monsters, or how many people he helped or saved. Mai would never return his feelings for her, no matter how much he tried to be a mature man. She would always see him as a stupid boy. It didn't matter how many bills he paid and how hard he worked, his dad would never respect or love him, but just continue to expect him to support them both. He thought about the type of person he wished to become and the types of people he feared becoming.

He had come to the conclusion on the ride home from Kaiba's Duel Tower that the only place that he had ever had respect was in his gang with Hirutani. It was like an epiphany. He was highly respected and even a legend in those days- he was the Yugi or Kaiba of the streets. So after Mai left…well he decided instead of going home, he'd go visit some old…friends.

Of course, they at first were angry at his presence.

_"Who the hell do you think you are showing up here?!" One lackey, whom Jounouchi had never learned the name of demanded._

_"An old friend, come to visit. Is that a problem?" Jounouchi walked right in and sat on the couch, as if he had never left. He jerked his head to get his blond hair out of his eyes-which only lasted for a second before they fell into his face again. He glanced up coolly at his old leader and friend, Hirutani. _

_"I'm a little bit confused Jounouchi… do you have a death wish?" Hirutani said bitterly. _

_"Not really. I've been thinking." The blonde leaned back, with his arms behind his head. Despite the fact he was pleased to not hear any wise cracks like 'don't hurt yourself', he was still a bit nervous on the inside, although his cool exterior would suggest otherwise. There was a good chance that Hirutani was very sore about the last few encounters and would rather kill him then take him back, but Jounouchi was willing to risk it. He could beat them all down. The truth was he was more stubborn then strong- he wouldn't quit till he was the last guy standing. He had built up a tolerance for abuse and pain over the years, making him able to take more punches then any one else he had met. "You still need that right-hand man, Hirutani?"_

_It had taken Hirutani a moment to process what Jounouchi had said, or maybe he was just debating whether or not he wanted Jounouchi in the gang still. The blue haired youth never acted on impulse like Jounouchi, he always thought things through._

_"Sure." Hirutani smiled, in an unfriendly and cocky manner. "Let's have a drink Jounouchi. Tomorrow we will further discuss the issue." Hirutani handed Jounouchi a glass, and smirked. _

Jounouchi went home after they had a few drinks and he was introduced to all the new members, and caught up with some guys from back in the day. Now he was lying on his bed wondering if he SHOULD go back tomorrow.

"Why not? As long as I keep it a secret from Yugi and the others…" He actually feared Honda finding out the most, despite the fact that Yugi would probably be the most sensitive to it. The short duelist would probably think of it as a betrayal or something, but Honda would get very, very angry. He'd probably kick the crap out of Jounouchi. He'd done it once before, and it was tough to get back in the good books. Honda had been his best friend since they were in middle school, and the thought of loosing that support seemed devastating. It was like losing a brother.

Jounouchi decided a few things that needed to happen before he came back to the gang was 1) he didn't have to surrender all his time to Hirutani and 2) they would NEVER do wrong by his friends. He would of course have to explain to Hirutani that he was trying to keep it a secret from his friends, therefore he couldn't miss school, or else they'd come looking for him. He'd probably have to talk to Hirutani one on one; otherwise he'd never get a deal with him. He felt a little drunk right now, and looked at his clock. It was only 11:00 pm. Not too late. He somehow, despite his lazy drunkness, managed to get to his feet and stared out the window.

Things were going to change.

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A/N: yea, that was way short, but no worries, chapter 2 is 3 times longer and done. It'll be up very soon! ) 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here is the next chapter, like promised, its way long.

Oh by the way, I don't drink underage, no worries. In Quebec the legal age is 18. Quite the difference from the legal age being 21 I suppose. Anyway, Jounouchi is clearly drinking underage in this, but that's the least of his problems. So I'd just like to reiterate: I don't agree with it.

Disc: Yu-gi-oh! And all that is related to it is not mine.

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Chapter 2

"Katsuya! Wake up!" Jounouchi sat up alarmed. He didn't even realize he had fallen asleep, but he had managed to fall asleep in the middle of his floor. "Katsuya!" His dad was now in his room. Jounouchi looked at him puzzled.

"What?"

"What the crap is this?!" He pointed out to the hall, and grabbed his son by the scruff of his shirt, dragging him out. Jounouchi was shocked. The apartment was an absolute chaotic mess! Worse then when his dad has a violent temper tantrum. There was ketchup on the walls, as well as other unidentifiable condiments and…butter? A chair was in the sink and another one sticking out of the oven and there was unrolled paper towel tangled up around the room. The table was knocked over, pictures, figurines, beer; everything was all over the place.

"How did this happen?!" Jounouchi gasped.

"Well YOU did it!" His father snapped, dropping him on the floor and grumpily giving him a swift boot in the ass.

"How do you know?!" Jounouchi rubbed his behind as he got up.

"I just got home. I was out all night." The older man frowned. Jounouchi looked at the clock. It was 1 pm. What the hell happened last night? He then suddenly remembered.

"Oh shit."

"What?" His dad glared at him.

"I'll clean this up…"the blonde started by taking the shampoo bottles out of the fridge. His dad left and Jounouchi wasn't sure where he went and he didn't care. How could this have happened? What had he taken yesterday? He could barely remember. He remembered drinking…

As he took the chair out of the sink he remembered.

_There was something coming out of the sink drain! He had to stop the fiend from escaping!_

_"Back you crazy bastard! I'll kill you!" Jounouchi muttered barely understandable to anyone who was watching the boy threaten invisible enemies. He took the chair and stuck it the sink, making sure the drain was covered. The beast's tentacles wriggled underneath it, reaching for him, and he took the ketchup from the fridge, and squirted it at the monster. "Take this! How about THIS you skunk brained scoundrel!?!"_

He shook his head as he put the table back in its proper position. He had forgotten about the acid that Hirutani had offered him. It must have kicked in sometime after he had gotten home. Why did he take that stupid shit anyway?

_He took the paper from his former leader. He shrugged and put it in his mouth. It'd be rude not to take it. He didn't really have much choice anyway. Everyone was watching him, as if his life depended on whether or not he ate the damn thing. Besides, these stupid drugs hardly ever had a large effect on him. He'd go home and sleep before it even hit him…_

Obviously, he was more ignorant then he thought, but it didn't matter anymore. He just had to promise himself he'd never take drugs again. He hadn't even smoked a joint in three years, let alone taken any hard narcotics.

Once finished his cleaning, he decided to go out for a walk; or rather, he wanted to go find Hirutani before they all got together that night. He needed to discuss his return. He knew where Hirutani lived and it would look very nervy if he went to his house- which was perfect, because that's the type of person Jounouchi was. He wouldn't be Jounouchi if he didn't get into Hirutani's face. Never mind that was part of the reason Hirutani felt the need to reprogram the blonde into conforming along with the rest of the group. Jounouchi wasn't big on being a sheep- maybe Kaiba was slightly right about the dog thing. When it came to a herd of sheep, Jounouchi tended to be the sheep dog. He had no qualms about getting right in there and mixing it up, using little threats to get the herd to get moving. If he was the sheep dog, and the gang were sheep…did that make Hirutani the Sheppard, thus was Jounouchi still being controlled by him? Damn…

Hirutani didn't live in a much better part of town then Jounouchi did, but at least Hirutani had a house. Not only that, he also had both his parents. They seemed decent, just not exactly well off. They probably didn't approve of their son's behavior, but it wasn't like they could do a lot about it. He'd have to give up the gang eventually. Jounouchi couldn't imagine Hirutani quitting though…maybe he'd move on to bigger things like a mafia or something. That would be kind of cool…

Jounouchi didn't go to the door. Instead he went to the back of the house, to where Hirutani's room was (if he remembered correctly) and opened the window. He entered, without warning and scanned the room. His eyes fell onto the bed where Hirutani seemed to be sleeping- that or there was a shit load of junk under the blankets.

"Hirutani, you chimp, wake up." Jounuchi pulled the blankets off. The older boy woke up slowly, and glared.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" He sat up and after a moment he seemed to wake up completely. He rubbed his hazel eyes and frowned at the younger boy. "Jounouchi, you fucker, what are you doing in my house?"

"I came to talk to you without the rest'a them punks." The shorter blonde shrugged, and took a seat on the chair in front of Hirutani's desk. "See, if I'm coming back I wanna make sure we have an understanding."

"You come crawling back to us, and NOW you have conditions? Forget it."

"I didn't crawl back, I just felt like it. I don't NEED to join; I can just walk away right now."

"So what conditions are we talking about?" Hirutani tried to sound like he didn't care. He put his hair into his usual pony tail, showing the light blue buzzed hair underneath. Hirutani had somewhat long hair on the top of his head that was a brilliant shade of blue. He was a tall, well-built boy, with a serious, "no bullshit" expression always on his face. He had his left ear pierced with several rings- mostly red ones.

"I just wanna make sure that you understand that I have another life that I want separate from this- in other words I can't miss a lot of school when it starts up again, cuz people'll come lookin for me, and I dun want them to find out about this. Right? Also, those people, my friends- you remember them right? I dun want them hurt- FOR REAL this time. They got nothing to do with this."

"So what you're saying is this is only a part time commitment."

"Yeah- cuz I work too."

"Why are you coming back? Nothing seems to have changed." Hirutani frowned going to his beverage fridge in the corner and tossing Jounouchi a beer and getting one for himself.

"I…know; I just felt like coming back. Maybe I miss kicking ass…or maybe I just missed your beautiful mug." Jounouchi smirked.

"Heh, well I won't lie to ya, I sure missed having you around. You were the only one worth having around."

"So, do you think this can work?" Jounouchi asked, referring to his conditions.

"Yea, but don't let the others know I cut you a deal. At this point they don't see you as a loyal member- and you know how it is. You can't start at the top."

"But I basically am."

"Well yea, but there aren't many original members around anymore that know you from before. I'm already getting flack about you being my right hand." Hirutani took a joint out of a baggie and lit it.

"Well that's there problem. I'll beat their faces in if they're gonna start bitchin' at me."

"You should. Some of those retards are so obnoxious, I just wanna kill them- but right now I can't be killing off valuable members…you see, I DO have enemies, and since you left it's been hard times." He took a drag from his joint then offered it to Jounouchi, who without thinking took a long drag himself. "Let's be honest, you were a valuable member, and I truly consider you a friend."

"Oh you sure showed it when you almost killed me those last few encounters."

"Oh right, you dyke, like throwing me off a building didn't almost kill me." Hirutani smacked Jounouchi across his face.

"You put glass in my eye! You were going to STAB me in the NECK! You were playing serious!" Hirutani offered Jounouchi his own joint, and lit it for him. "Not only that, but the time before when I came back because you threatened to hurt all the kids in my class, you tortured me by electrocuting me!"

"THAT was COOL."

"Cool?! You know how much that killed?"

"I do, your friend did it to us too remember?" Hirutani started another joint.

"Nope. My brain was in shock or something at that point." Jounouchi took the first drag of his.

"I liked that…it was cool. I've been meaning to try that form of torture again some day…but no one's really pissed me off that much."

"Not to me dude…I was messed up for a bit…like...maybe a day." Jounouchi felt a bit relaxed. Three or four joints later they both felt perfectly lazy.

"Yeah…we need some music…"

"Why don't we go to the….place…that we go? Whatever the shit it's called."

"Our abandoned warehouse?" Hirutani offered.

"Sure…" Jounouchi stood up lazily.

"Yea, that's where I got all the hard shit." Hirutani grabbed his backpack.

"No dude, I fucked my house last night…I had a chair in the sink…" Jounouchi crawled out the window. Hirutani laughed hysterically.

"You retard, I told you not to go home last night! You didn't listen. But tonight…well we have a little something special planned…"

"FUCK! I just remembered, man. I need to go. Go to see Honda!" Jounouchi did a quick 180 and was walking in the opposite direction.

"Honda? That bitch, forget him."

"No man! God dammit you!" Jounouchi paused, wondering why he had suddenly become so hostile and so stupid sounding…god dammit you? "I'll meet you there tonight at um...8:00."

"Ok whatever. I'm going to go get some shit for tonight." Hirutani always managed to stay so cool, where as Jounouchi was beginning to realize that the weed had been laced, and he was showing signs.

"Crap damn!" he cursed, as he walked in circles trying to figure out where Honda was. By some amazing stroke of luck it had only taken him half an hour to find Honda's home, and by then he'd become somewhat normal. He rung the doorbell, and Honda's father answered. Jounouchi mentally told himself to be normal.

"HELLO!" He said a little too loudly. He was very nervous about Honda's dad figuring him out. "I'm looking for Honda! Maybe you've seen him?" The senior Honda blinked and didn't respond right away. After a long awkward silence he replied.

"He's in his room Jounouchi-san…are you feeling ok?"

"FINE, fine! Your fine, I'm fine! Oh look at this rug!" Jounouchi took off his shoes, and struggled to put them away properly, then quickly made his way to Honda's room. "HONDA!" Jounouchi slammed the door behind him. "I have arrived!"

"Jounouchi? Why are you yelling?" Honda muttered from his bed.

"I'm yelling?"

"You're not yourself…what happened?" Honda smelled the pot and prayed his dad's cold didn't permit that he smelled it, and thanked God that his mom was at work.

"You wanted me to come…today?"

"No…did I?" Honda sat up and stretched.

"WHAAAAAT?!" Jounouchi's arms fell to his side. "I thought you did."

"We planned to go to a party tomorrow but… that's not today." The taller boy stood up and put pants on over his boxers that had Gundam Mechas on them.

"You pecker…why didn't you tell me." Jounouchi flopped on the bed.

"You forgot cuz YOU were smoking up, weren't you." The brunette accused.

"I don't do that shit, I'm a responsible citizen…can I sleep here for a minute?"

"Yea sure dude, I'm going to have lunch."

"BRING ME SOME LUNCH!" Jounouchi demanded, erecting his arm as the rest of his body lay lazily on Honda's bed.

"Yea yea, then you and me gotta talk."

"Yes sir!" Jounouchi rolled onto his side. What was in that weed? What was he doing to himself? Honda would beat the shit out of him when he came back. He watched Honda's fish swim around in awe, until he fell asleep.

He was awoken by someone poking him.

"Lunch dude."

"Who eats lunch this late?" Jounouchi muttered.

"I do, when I sleep in till 3 pm." Honda handed Jounouchi a bowl of ramen, which was eaten in about 30 seconds.

"You wanna tell me where you got the weed?" Honda asked slurping up some of his ramen.

"What weed?"

"Don't be like that man, you can tell me stuff. I'm not Yugi, I'm well aware of the other lifestyle you have." Honda sighed. It was true that he knew a great deal more about Jounouchi's lifestyle then Yugi or Anzu, but he didn't know as much as he thought. Jounouchi shrugged.

"It would have been rude to say no."

"Oh man…whose was it?"

"Well if you're going to judge me, I ain't talking bout it." Jounouchi turned away, and concentrated on a piece of thread coming out of Honda's blanket.

"I'm not judging you! I just worry."

"Why do you worry? Have I not proven time and time again that I don't NEED you or ANYBODY to worry about me?"

"You've proven time and time again that you DO need someone to worry. You do some retarded shit sometimes. You're reckless, impulsive and honestly…not that you're stupid, but you're not that smart."

"Oh you piss me off." Jounouchi stood up and decided it was time to leave. He had been insulted enough. "I'm going."

"Aw, come on, I don't mean to rag on ya dude, why don't you stay for dinner?" Honda offered, hoping the quick-tempered blonde would accept so they would make peace.

"Naw, I can't I gotta meet some friends…" Jounouchi hoped Honda wouldn't question it. Hopefully he assumed Yu-gi or something.

"Oh yea? Who? You going out with Yugi, Anzu and I to see that movie? I thought you didn't want to." Honda sounded hopeful. The shorter boy mentally slapped his forehead. Dammit, he forgot that tonight was the night they were all supposed to see a movie- except him who absolutely did NOT want to go see it. If it won't make him laugh and it doesn't have violence, he wouldn't spend any of his hard earned dollars on it.

"No…" He sighed. Honda thought for a moment. Then he looked at Jounouchi seriously.

"You're not back in with them are you?" If Jounouchi weren't a gambling guy, he might have given a very shocked and nervous look. But he had trained himself over his time of duel monsters to keep a straight face- plus also he was big into gambling, much like his old man. Needed a good poker face you know. He tried to play it cool and play it dumb.

"Who?" He made the most puzzled expression he could muster that looked sincere.

"That old gang of yours."

"Nope. Even if I wanted to, those guys hate me now. They want me dead. Naw, these are a few people I met during battle city. I told them we'd have a few games once in a while, and they called me up to do that tonight. You know? Maybe even trade a few cards…"

"Sounds cool. Well have fun with that. But who DID give you that weed? This has got me confused." Honda crossed his arms behind his head, looking relaxed. Jounouchi had to think of someone quick. Who would do pot that Jounouchi may talk to on occasion?

"I bumped into Dinosaur Ryuuzaki and he was with a few friends. He asked me to join them- he gets really social and forgiving when he's high I guess- that and that shit was laced with something for sure. I don't typically act so retarded when I smoke normal pot." Jounouchi was certain that his story sounded sincere and believable, and Ryuuzaki DID seem like the type…

"That kid is SUCH a loser."

"Amen to that, brother. But seriously, I must get a move on." Jounouchi casually saluted as a goodbye and left via the window. A habit he'd gotten into and rather enjoyed. It could be his new thing- make all entries and exits through windows if it were possible.

Honda frowned once his friend was gone. What was going on with that kid? His story didn't seem…right. Jounouchi would have mentioned any new friends- wouldn't he? He typically always introduces them to their little group and tries to intermingle them… and it didn't seem right that Jounouchi would smoke up with Ryuuzaki- it would please Jounouchi to offend the little jerk. Something was up…


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This part is about as long as the second, yea so I hope you people like reading. There is much substance abuse in this chapter, so if Jounouchi doing drugs and seriously drinkingreally bugs you...um...don't read...although I wan;t you to read it, so maybe...just stick it out? its not that bad, really...or at least not in this chapter. Its mostly kinda humourous, not that I'm glorifying drugs and alcohol and violence...

Disc: I don't own Yu-gi-oh! Or anything related.

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Chapter 3 

Jounouchi didn't want to go to the gang's hideout until he needed to, which at least was a few hours away. He couldn't think of anything to do in the mean time though. He supposed he could just walk around, aimlessly until he felt it was time to go. Maybe eat something

"Look at that, a wandering stray mutt. Looking for handouts no doubt." It took great will power to not turn around and kill the owner of that voice- who was quite clearly Kaiba. That guy was just so…so…mean spirited! What did Jounouchi ever done to him?

"Do you mind pissing off for once Kaiba?" Jounouchi kept walking. "You really must have nothing better to do with your time."

"I'm on a break, and what is more ego boosting then comparing yourself to those who are far beneath you? I look at you and smile, Jounouchi."

"That borders on strange and disturbing." Jounouchi muttered.

"I smile because I think to myself "even in a rut, I'm 100 times better then that mediocre loser". I never have to be depressed as long as you're around to boost my ego with your pathetic excuse for a life." Jounouchi frowned. Kaiba must be having a bad day and decided to take it out on someone.

"Well if it amuses you so much, why don't you shut up and appreciate it in silence?" Jounouchi flipped him off.

"You reek of marijuana, you mutt. You have SUCH dirty habits- I thought you were just a loser before, but now you're a trashy loser."

"EXCUSE ME?" Jounouchi turned on his heel.

"You heard me."

"What, you think I'm trashy cuz of a little weed? You have got to be the biggest f'kin bigot I have EVER met!"

"Probably. I can't imagine any other bigot giving you the time of day- I'm just nicer then most." Kaiba crossed his arms.

"Nicer? NICER?! I'll kill you, you f'kin bastard! You are by NO means NICER then ANYONE!" Jounouchi kicked a can towards Kaiba, hitting his pants. Some of the beverage escaped from the mouth of the can and splashed over Kaiba's grey slacks quite noticeably. Kaiba looked down at his leg then returned his eyes to their former position.

"You got my pants dirty."

"What a shame." Jounouchi said coolly, turning his back on Kaiba and walking away. He heard him coming but not soon enough. The next thing he knew was that his face had smashed into the pavement. He was paralyzed for a moment from the shock and the pain. He hated pot for that one characteristic. It slowed him down. He glared and slowly got to his hands and knees- the first stage in his plan to get up and kick Kaiba's ass.

"That's where you belong, Jounouchi." Kaiba kicked Jounouchi over, as the blonde tried to get up. "On the ground." By the time Jounouchi got up, Kaiba was gone. How did this happen?! How is it that Kaiba can get to him? How is it that Kaiba can BEAT him?! Was Kaiba stronger then him? No, Kaiba was just lucky this time…he was still feeling the affects of the pot. As for the other occasion where Kaiba threw him to the ground in Duelist Kingdom…um…that was just some lame move he learned from a self-defense class OBVIOUSLY. A hand to hand battle between the two of them, Jounouchi knew he would win for sure. He blinked as he felt a trickle of blood go down the side of his face.

"You fucker." Jounouchi frowned wiping the blood with his hand. Kaiba was the worst to Jounouchi. He never gave Jounouchi any credit for anything he ever did. During their duel at battle city, he knew that he had Kaiba in a few tough situations- but that ass couldn't admit it. He was always ragging on the blonde- just like everyone else. He remembered Anzu and Yugi hadn't even stayed to watch- probably went off to make out. 'It's not what you think' they said. Yea right. He remembered they didn't think he could beat Kaiba, and they just made fun of him for losing. They never thought he could do anything. They always thought Yugi could do anything and everything, but could Jounouchi? Nope.

"Oh how I hate people." Jounouchi muttered to himself. He headed towards the park so he could swing on the swings for a bit. He could cool off this way. He sat down and started to swing a little. Then he began to pump his legs until he got some real air. His blond hair would go in his eyes as he went forward, and then experience some anti-gravity while he was going backwards. Swinging on swings was one of those things. Who didn't love a good swing?

Time went by and he realized the sun was setting and he should probably go to the hideout. After the run in with Kaiba, and his thoughts about how his friends unintentionally made him hate himself, he really needed to see his gang. Even if they didn't like him, they still showed him respect. Jounouchi wasn't sure what was going on in his life right at that moment, but one thing was for sure- his desire to become someone and be respected was so strong it was the only thing on his mind.

"Jounouchi, you're late." Hirutani smirked

"Aw, c'mon. I just got a little preoccupied. Honda wanted to feed me. I never say no to a free meal- it's just rude."

"Whatever. You ready?" Hirutani put an arm around Jounouchi's shoulders. He was so much larger then the blond. It sometimes made Jounouchi nervous, but it also made him pretty proud that he could successfully take such a large guy on- but Hirutani's arm around his shoulders made the shorter boy feel slightly vulnerable.

"Ready for what?" Jounouchi asked nonchalant.

"Well, ready for your little welcome back party, of course. Oh kay guys. Bring out the brief case." One member brought a silver briefcase and set it on the table. "Open it." Jounouchi did as he was told. Inside was a bottle of vodka, sheets of acid, cocaine, a bottle, which was marked "ether" and a bunch of other things Jounouchi had never seen before.

"What's all this for?" He looked up at Hirutani.

"For you."

"Oh no, man I don't feel up to doing some of this shit. After last night's acid trip I never wanna touch that shit again." Jounouchi closed the briefcase, and was about to push it away when he felt a blade on his neck.

"You either do this and join or we kill you for wasting our time." Hirutani shrugged. Jounouchi mentally cursed the older boy. Of course he had to make it look good for the others, and he knew Jounouchi didn't really like doing this stuff… "Here, let's start off easy. Smoke a few joints…maybe do some buckets, or chutes? That'll get you high, and then you can move on to the fun stuff." He stuck a lit joint in Jounouchi's mouth. Glaring the blond took it. About 6 joints later Hirutani handed him the bottle of vodka. Jounouchi growled, hesitantly taking the bottle from Hirutani. He felt sick. It had been a long while since he had seriously done this stuff.

"Bong it." Hirutani nodded at the bottle.

"Whaaaaaaaat….." Jounouchi didn't want to drink an entire 26 of vodka, let alone bong it. Hirutani put a hose on the end of it. "No, no, I'll get sick man." Hirutani wasn't going to give him a choice. He felt someone grab him from behind and by pulling his hair, pulled his head back.

"You're not being fun Jounouchi. Ready? Don't waste any now." He put the tube in Jounouchi's mouth and tilted it. He could tell the boy was struggling to keep up and drink it all without throwing up. "Half done, kid." Hirutani smirked. Jounouchi felt his eyes water, and one tear drop escaped down the side of his face. His throat burned as well as his esophagus. He could feel it in his stomach that he needed to puke. He also felt he would pass out if he didn't breathe. His arms flung up and he grabbed the bottle, without his brain's permission, and fought to pull the bottle away. He gave up, seeing it was fruitless to try- also at this point he wanted to finish it, just to say he could. He took control over the bottle, and he felt everyone release him, and he tilted his head farther back and finished the bottle. Once it was done he dropped it, and fought the urge to vomit.

"Is he ok?" One of the newer, more compassionate members asked.

"He's fine, aren't you Jounouchi?" Hirutani smirked, looking at the wobbling blond who was desperately trying to find something to hold onto until the ground seemed to stop rippling. "Ready for the next round?"

"Everything's…spinning." Jounouchi sounded like he was about to pass out. Hirutani wouldn't hear of it. He grabbed the shorter boy and led him to the couch. He tossed a baggie of grass to another guy.

"Why don't you guys finish this off?" He figured there was no point in giving any more weed to Jounouchi. The brown-eyed boy looked at him, almost like he was blind.

"Dammit, you, you…" the kid was most definitely done. "Let's go."

"Go? Where?" Hirutani asked, amused.

"FIGHT! Fight me you bastard! Let's go!" Jounouchi mumbled. He slowly stood, using Hirutani's shoulders for support. He felt like he was learning to walk for the first time.

"Jounouchi is wasted, boss." One member laughed. The rest of the gang was doing buckets, getting quite high. Jounouchi tried to stumble over to them, and kick that one guy in the face but, he took a wrong turn at the couch and tripped. He rolled onto his stomach and crawled aimlessly, not sure what he was doing or what he was looking for. Hirutani pulled a quart of tequila out of the fridge and took a shot, with a lemon and salt. This was going to be an interesting night.

"Hey boys, move over." He sat down between two other gang members and joined in. Jounouchi was allowed to do as he pleased while the others got high, but in that time he was lost. He didn't know what was going on. He could honestly say he was never this drunk before. He somehow managed to stumble into someone, and he grabbed his arm and he was pushed away. He was filled with confusion as he felt something grab him under his arms. He struggled as the ground disappeared.

"Calm down, man." Hirutani laughed, wobbling slightly himself. "You're getting in the way of the others, so I'm 'spose to get you outta the way, see?" He practically dragged Jounouchi into another room, separate from the others. There was a couch in there as well. Jounouchi vaguely recalled this place as the place where no one was allowed but Hirutani and an invited individual-which back in the day was always Jounouchi. The two of them would always come in here to talk privately about people who needed to be "taken care of" and share some joints. This was where Hirutani basically lived throughout the day when he was supposed to be at school. This was where all the drugs were locked up and kept safe.

"This is where we can get into things I dun wanna share with the others." Hirutani smirked.

"What?" Jounouchi's confused and drunken mind was telling him to panic. It didn't understand what was going on, and just wanted Jounouchi to run away. Run forever. He couldn't listen to his brain though- it was like there was a wall between his brain and his body. He heard himself rambling, but he didn't know what his mouth was saying. He knew though, that he was somehow on the floor again. The room was spinning, and he wanted it to stop. "Stop this spinnin'in', man, just make it stop. I'm gonna get sick!" Hirutani seemed to be gone. Was he ever there? Was there ever a time where he wasn't spinning? He couldn't remember. Suddenly he felt himself being lifted again, and didn't panic this time. Hirutani kept an arm around him this time, knowing that the boy didn't know enough to stay upright.

"Maybe you're not ready for this yet…"Hirutani muttered to himself. The alarms went off in Jounouchi's head again, and despite the fact that Hirutani's presence was keeping him in a sitting position and made the world not spin, his presence seemed threatening. Why did he have so much control over Jounouchi's mind and body? Jounouchi knew he had to escape. He didn't trust this guy anymore…but with the larger boy's arm holding him in place, escape seemed impossible. Hirutani was smoking a joint, as he debated getting out the blotters. Jounouchi sat quietly beside him, his body trembling under Hirutani's arm.

"Why did you come back Jounouchi?" The elder boy turned to look Jounouchi in the eyes, his face only inches away from the drunken boy's. The boy looked at his leader, with the most nervous and confused expression on his face. Jounouchi felt more then ever, like he was the prisoner of Hirutani, being kept in this room, and interrogated. Soon there would be a torture of the sickest variety- or so Jounouchi thought.

"I just wanted…." Jounouchi forgot what he was thinking.

"Wanted what?" Hirutani wouldn't let him look away. He wanted to know for real, why this boy, who insisted on not coming back, would suddenly want to. He grabbed the blonde's head and forced him to keep looking at him. "What did you want, Jounouchi?"

"I want to be someone." Jounouchi said seriously, almost sober.

"What do you mean?"

"I was tired of… of people thinking I'm not anyone, but that they are someone and I'm not. They all think I'm not someone, but they don't know who I am. I use to be respected and feared by all sorts of people, but now no one does."

"Your name is still well known among underground circles." Hirutani felt it hard to understand the muttering boy, who seemed to be talking in circles.

"NO! Not enough! No one respects me, you... What are you!? No one takes me seriously, Jounouchi Katsuya is just a no good punk. Not anymore, you respect me, you know. You know who I am. You know what I'm capable of doing. You all do. You all know I can, I can fight, I can survive, but do they? No, no, they think I'm nothing. Kaiba said…that Kaiba I hate him so much…I'll kill him." Hirutani felt almost guilty for knowing this stuff. Jounouchi normally kept to himself, his business was his alone. No one ever knew anything about his life outside this gang.

"Well, I'm glad you finally realized who your real friends were all along."

"You people aren't my friends." Jounouchi pushed himself away from Hiutani. He was able to sit up better now, but his skin was still pale and he was shaking. Hirutani sighed.

"So what your saying is, you're using this gang to boost your ego." Hirutani opened his brief case.

"You wanna fight me?!" Jounouchi punched Hirutani in the head, but the older boy ignored it.

"You wanna have some of this. Here, eat it." He handed the younger boy a blotter with a skull on it. Jounouchi stared at it for a very long time, in awe.

"I can't eat this; it's a work of art!" He exclaimed. Hirutani rolled his eyes and took another blotter out of his briefcase.

"Open up, kid." He ordered.

"Huh?" As his mouth hung open, Hirutani stuck the paper in his mouth.

"Eat it." He ordered again. Jounouchi ate the original blotter as well as the one Hirutani had stuck in his mouth. Jounouchi pocketed another blotter in his denim jacket, because he was so fond of the design. Hirutani himself decided to get into the cocaine. The two sat on the couch, the only sound was Hirutani's sniffing, and Jounouchi's spontaneous mutterings. Time passed slowly, but an hour went by, and Hirutani closed his briefcase, and just chilled.

"Raindrops on roses….and whiskers on kittens…" Jounouchi sang quietly, almost dream like. He'd been muttering to himself for some time. "laa la… la.. laa laa and warm woolen mittens….Brown geese that fly with the moon on their wings….these are a few….of my favourite...things…" he raised his head and looked around. He was in a strange place, indeed. He was under the sea! "God man, get me an oxygen tank!" He demanded, holding his breath. He stood up a little quickly and fell flat onto his back. He was shocked when a beautiful blonde mermaid with huge bare breasts began to swim towards him. She clasped her lips around his and breathed into him. He relaxed, seeing as he wasn't going to die anymore. She pulled away, and some how he knew that now he had the ability to breath under the water. He tried to catch bubbles as they drifted past him. He somehow got engulfed in a large bubble and began to rise to the surface. The mermaid waved goodbye as he found himself back with Hirutani.

He tried to tell Hirutani about it, but he didn't think the older boy could hear him. It might be really hard to listen if you're really distracted by your face mutating.

"Hey man, you alright…your going all Cyclops on me…or multi-clops…or something." Jounouchi tried to touch Hirutani's face, and panicked when the mouth seemed to launch out and tried to snap his fingers off. "AAH!" He screamed as the mouth started to attack him.

"Jounouchi? Jounouchi?" Hirutani didn't understand why the blond was screaming. He must have been having a bad trip or something. He laid back and decided to ignore the other, but found it difficult when he was smacked across the face by an empty bottle.

"GET AWAY!" Jounouchi screamed. His pupils were dilated and he was sweating. The blond could hear his own heart beating fast and loudly, and it was freaking him out. Hands were coming at him from everywhere, trying to grab him. Where was his mermaid? "Let me go!" He tried to run away, tripping over a head on the ground that was trying to tell him something important- but he needed to escape the hands and the mouth so he had no time to listen.

Hirutani followed Jounouchi as the boy ran out into the main part of the hideout, passing the others.

"Whoa, Jounouchi's trippin out." One said, laughing. They were sitting around eating junk food. Jounouchi ran out of the hide out into the streets.

"He's not coming back for a while." Hirutani chuckled, joining the others. "He's got a head full'a acid."

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Um,I was told this was a horrid spot to end a chapter...sorry about that... butyou understand, I hope. No worries, I'm editing chapter 4, RIGHT now. Reveiw please 


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: note- there will be no notes at the begining of this becauseI have nothing to say. :)

DISC: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything related

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Chapter 4

"That was clearly the best movie EVER." Anzu smiled, holding Yugi's arm, who was blushing slightly. Honda nodded in agreement.

"I typically don't like movies like that, but I got way into it. Can you belie-" He stopped suddenly, noticing that neither Yugi or Anzu were listening to him. There attention seemed elsewhere. "What is it?" He blinked and then he followed their gaze. He almost jumped with shock. Jounouchi was perched on a parking meter, somehow managing to keep his balance as he yelled at something the others couldn't see.

"What is he doing?!" Anzu gasped. "He's crazy!" Yugi pulled away from Anzu and ran up to his friend.

"Jounouchi-kun?" He asked, cautiously.

"How can you fly like that?" Jounouchi asked, excited. "I've been asking these angels to teach me, but they're too busy singing to answer. They're so pretty though…" He looked away, his expression turning dreamy. "WHY ARE YOU FLYING?!" He screamed angrily barely a second later.

"What's wrong with you?!" Yugi asked, hesitant to get any closer. The blonde began laughing as he flung himself into the air. He landed on his foot wrong and fell hard to the ground. Jounouchi cursed his luck. He thought he would catch one of those pretty angels, and they would take him to heaven. That would be lovely…

"Something's wrong with him…Honda what's wrong?" Anzu asked, frightened for the trembling boy on the ground.

"I don't know…" Honda lied. He had an idea, but he didn't wish to voice it. Jounouchi was lying on his back, reaching into the air, swaying his arms, watching them leave behind a trail. Honda crouched down in front of his face, and began talking to him- but his words only came out as ripples. Some were blue and some were purple.

"…I can see your sounds…" Jounouchi muttered, running his fingers over Honda's mouth, curious to see if it would make a different ripple.

"Jounouchi? Snap out of it." Honda held Jounouchi's hand in his own hand to keep it out of his mouth. The blond was sweating like crazy, and looked really messed up. He became afraid for his friend.

"What can we do?" Yugi asked.

"Well, he can't go to his home…and he can't come to my house like this. My parent's don't approve of…well I'd rather them not think Jounouchi is a bad kid. He's like family; I'd like that to not change." He looked at Yugi, hopefully, while ignoring Jounouchi's hands mauling his face.

"Yeah, I guess my place is best- if Grandpa asks we'll just tell him Jounouchi-kun is possessed by some weird ancient spirit, and he'll buy it." He cringed as Jounouchi rolled onto his side and vomited. "Jounouchi-kun…" He shook his head, sympathetically. Honda pulled Jounouchi into a sitting position, and rubbed his back.

"You gonna be ok man?" Honda asked too quietly for anyone to even hear. With Yugi's help he hoisted the brown eyed boy onto his back, and the group headed to Yugi's house. Anzu, using her cell phone, called her parents to let them know she wouldn't be coming home that night. Honda did the same, with much difficulty.

"Hey kaa-san…I wont be com- piss off Jounouchi!- I won't be coming home tonight." Honda swatted Jounouchi's hand away for the 7th time.

"Where are you going tonight?" His mother asked, concerned, hearing Honda snap at Jounouchi.

"Yugi's." Honda slapped Jounouchi's hand, when he tried to take the phone. Jounouchi was making weird noises, like he was an alien or something.

"What's that noise?"

"Nothing." Honda answered too quickly. "See ya!" He flipped the cell closed, and handed it back to Anzu. "Jounouchi, you are the BIGGEST idiot in the world." He shifted the boy on his back into a more comfortable position. This seemed to frighten the boy, because he suddenly clung to Honda like his life depended on it. Honda was struggling to breathe as Jounouchi's arms were strangling him.

"AH! AH! AH!" Jounouchi screamed. "It's pulling me down!" He cried. His eyes were shut tight, and he buried his head between his arm and Honda's neck. He peeked down towards the ground, where he saw Honda's shadow creeping up Honda's body, and it was grabbing his legs.

"What is?! LET GO!" Honda choked.

"Let me go you bastard!!!" Jounouchi jumped off Honda's back, and was on his hands and knees, slapping the pavement. "I'll kill you! Back! BACK! AAARG! Someone get me a rifle!"

"Oh my god, he's lost it." Anzu rubbed her temple. Yugi tried to calm down his friend, but ended up getting thrown aside.

"Dammit man! Get me a shoe! GIMME YOUR SHOE!" Jounouchi pounced on his friend's feet, knocking him to the ground, and then dragged the short boy while trying to pry his black shoe from his foot.

"Let him GO Jounouchi!" Anzu slapped him. He became confused, and fell onto the ground, trying to find the shadow monster that he assumed was the one that slapped him.

"Where is that beast? I'll kill it!" He rolled, as if he were trying to imitate a scene from a spy action movie, but it just looked like he was rolling like a drunk.

"Oh, are you teaching the mutt new tricks?" A very well known voice said from ahead of them. Kaiba was standing beside a very expensive looking car, with the door open, in the middle of the road. "I saw you losers, and I couldn't ignore the fact that Jounouchi was dragging Yugi." He seemed to feel the need to explain himself.

"Go away Kaiba." Honda threatened. "You're the LAST thing we need." Honda tried to stand in front of Jounouchi, blocking him from Kaiba's vision. He didn't want this used against his friend. He just knew something like this would happen. He slapped his forehead as Jounouchi crawled past him, his face very close to the ground, as if inspecting it.

Jounouchi knew there was something lurking beneath the surface. He could feel it, and hear its breathing. It suddenly popped up out of the ground, and Jounouchi pounced on it, trying to keep it from coming up and eating his friends.

Kaiba snickered. To him, Jounouchi looked like he was pretending to be a puppy-dog, sniffing on the ground, and pouncing on stupid little things, like bugs. He wished he had a camera, he wished he had other witnesses; he wished he could think of something REALLY smart to say.

"I don't even NEED to say anything. I don't need to say anything to degrade him further- he's doing it all by himself." He smirked. Jounouchi finally noticed that Kaiba was there, but he didn't see Kaiba. He saw a tall, dark, daemon creature, surrounded by an aura of blue-ish purple. His eyes were a flaming red, and his mouth was filled with jagged sharp teeth. His body seemed to be a black figure that could change shape. Everything that Kaiba said sounded slow, and garbled. Jounouchi just stared at him, wondering if he would come any closer.

"Don't stare at me you dog…" The large toothy mouth didn't move in unison with the words, like a poorly dubbed foreign film. Jounouchi became confused. Was this thing talking to him? He was on all fours like a dog, but…he shook his head. He was so confused and he felt sick. The ground didn't want to stay still anymore, and he didn't know what was going on. The underground things kept popping up, and taking bites out of his friends…Yugi was only half there now. The things from underground ate most of him already. The black daemon approached Jounouchi, and attacked him with a spiked chain thing.

"AH!" Jounouchi screamed, as it wrapped around his neck, strangling him. The demon said something, he couldn't understand, and he felt he was being dragged by the chain. "Get this leash off'a me!" Jounouchi cried, trying to pry it off, but it just cut his hands, and got tighter. He began to panic as he felt surrounded by the underground things, and these faceless people. The demon stood over his face.

"GET UP YOU MUTT…" It ordered.

In reality though, Kaiba had told Jounouchi to stop staring at him, which he didn't stop doing. Honda tried to pull Jounouchi to his feet, which was when Jounouchi started screaming about a leash, and Honda dragged him a foot or two, while trying to get his friend to stand. Kaiba became flustered and yelled at him to get up.

"He's messed up." Kaiba didn't find this funny anymore. "What drugs is he on?" He asked.

"Jounouchi-kun doesn't do drugs!" Yugi snapped.

"Don't be so ignorant Yugi. He's clearly tripping on something. Stop moving." He ordered the blonde, and forced Jounouchi to stand on just his knees, while he searched his pockets. Jounouchi poked Kaiba's head, like he was trying to make sure he was really there. "Stop poking me." Kaiba muttered, finding nothing in his front jean pockets, but a set of keys he tried the back pockets. There was nothing there but a wallet, which didn't have anything in it but some money and some pictures- mostly of his sister, one of his friends, and two of Mai. One picture of Mai was really quite sexy, and Kaiba was tempted to keep it- but he wasn't that shallow. He returned the wallet to Jounouchi's pocket, and became very frustrated with Jounouchi, who was now resting his head on the top of Kaiba's.

He ignored the other boy, as he began searching his denim jacket pockets, since his ripped up jeans had no other pockets for searching. He found a switch blade knife in one pocket, and showed it to the others, with a questioning look. Anzu looked surprised, Yugi seemed uncomfortable and Honda shrugged.

"He has a few enemies that want him dead. It's purely for defense- sides he never brings it out much." He replied like it was nothing. Kaiba continued searching his pockets, finding a pack of gum, a dirty marble he probably found today on the ground, and a piece of crinkled paper with a skull on it.

"This is...holy shit." He stood up, and showed Honda, figuring the other two wouldn't think it was anything more then a temporary tattoo.

"Hey, that's a- you think he's on acid?" Honda seemed a bit surprised.

"Well, it's not an unreasonable assumption." Kaiba glanced down at the boy, who was currently giving his pant leg the evil eye.

"We need to get him to Yugi's house, before the police or someone like that come along!" Anzu stepped in.

"You think? Kaiba, can we use your car? It's too hard to make him cooperate." Honda hoped Kaiba would help them out.

"You want me to let that crazy mutt in my car? I wouldn't allow him anywhere near my belongings if he was clearheaded, let alone when he has the potential to destroy it." Kaiba crossed his arms. Jounouchi suddenly snatched the blotter from Kaiba's hand at a remarkable speed. Kaiba tried to conceal that he had been startled by Jounouchi's action. "Fine, but you better keep him under control." Kaiba walked back to his car, not waiting for the others. He took his place in the driver's seat, and simply waited as the others struggled to get Jounouchi to get in the car. It was difficult because apparently the car door was an entrance to haunted cave- and everyone knows Jounouchi's irrational fear of ghosts and the paranormal.

"Just get in the car Jounouchi-kun, please!" Yugi tried to convince Jounouchi it was safe by entering first- of course he didn't take into account that Jounouchi would hallucinate that he was a ghost trying to escape and kill them all. Needless to say it took a great deal of time to get Jounouchi anywhere. It wasn't funny either- not like some of the odd times Jounouchi and Honda would go to a party and get completely drunk and stumble around trying to find their homes. This was actually kind of scary. All of them had heard horror stories about kids that jumped out of windows thinking they could fly, or beat someone to death. They just hoped they could keep Jounouchi under control…


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Yes, the last chapter was more of a humourous one- but lets not forget Acid is VERY bad for you andI bet mostpeople would get alcohol poisoning from drinking that much vodka in one sitting...but this is Jounouchi. He's fictional therefore he can defy laws of logic and human limitations. You on the otherhand are real and would probably get alcohol poisoning. SO just remember: i don;t condone substance abuse.,This chapter is a bit more...serious- in the sense that everyone is like mad.

Disc: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything related.

* * *

Chapter 5

They finally got to Yugi's home, where they struggled to bring Jounouchi in quietly. Kaiba left before he even made sure they got into the house. He didn't understand why he even allowed those people in his car anyway- not that there was any evidence that anyone but him had been in the car. Somehow the nerd-herd had really kept Jounouchi under control, using seat belts to restrain him as well as their own weight.

"Where would Jounouchi get drugs from?" Anzu asked quietly, when they locked themselves in Yugi's bedroom. Honda raised her eyebrow as if it was the most obvious thing. Where WOULDN'T Jounouchi get drugs from? The kid knew the streets well enough to know where to get any drug- plus Honda highly suspected Jounouchi really had gone back to his old gang.

"Do you think…No Jounouchi-kun wouldn't do that." Yugi looked at Honda, wondering if he knew what he was thinking. "Honda-kun…what do you think?"

"I think we shouldn't rule anything out. It's Jounouchi. He does dumb shit without thinking." Honda crossed his arms, and glared at his friend, who was investigating the curtains on Yugi's window. "Anyway, if I know anything about acid, he'll be like this for a while. I don't know when he took this stuff, but it lasts for hours- I heard like 12."

"Ouch." Anzu fell onto Yugi's bed. "This isn't going to be a fun night."

"He LIED to me, that stupid punk!" Honda threw a pen at Jounouchi, angrily. Jounouchi made a weird noise when the pen hit his head and started to mutter something none of them could understand. "I hate him right now." Honda sat in Yugi's desk chair and rubbed his forehead.

"Well, obviously, Jounouchi-kun needs help. What can we do?" Yugi asked, ignoring the blonde as he poked him, unsure if the short boy was there or not.

"I'll beat the shit out of him in the morning, and scare him into NEVER doing this again." Honda stated. Anzu rolled her eyes wondering why she hung out with such violent meat-heads.

"We'll TALK to him in the morning, and see what's wrong. Maybe he's hit a rough spot, and just wanted to escape it? Jounouchi isn't the most rational of people." They agreed talking was the best thing to do; first that is. Honda still intended to beat some sense into him if Jounouchi didn't cooperate.

It was after 10 am before Jounouchi finally fell asleep.

"Ok, so basically, we'll talk to him tonight?" Anzu frowned, feeling a headache come on. She barely got any sleep that night, but the boys had had none. They told her to go get some rest while they looked after Jounouchi.

"No, let's wake him up at noon. I want to have a nap. But I don't want to wait all day to talk to the idiot." Honda frowned. 7 Pepsis, 3 coffees and straight sugar, kept him awake all night, but now he needed to sleep. He had a headache from the caffeine and now that the buzz had worn off, he was exhausted. Yugi fell asleep as soon as Jounouchi was beginning to drift into sleep.

"Ok, well I'll stay awake, incase Jounouchi wakes up." Anzu offered, pulling a book out of her purse to read. Honda nodded and laid down on a matt, and instantly fell asleep.

Anzu sighed, opening the book. What could have been responsible for Jounouchi suddenly feeling the need to get involved with that bad crowd again? She remembered the last time he was with that gang. He hadn't wanted to be there, but she had jumped to conclusions.

"_You're the worst Jounouchi!"_

She remembered thinking he was just like them, and had been just nice to Yugi while he felt obliged to be, because Yugi helped him out once. But she had been wrong then. Jounouchi only went back with them to protect his friends and classmates. Did he have the same reason this time? She shook her head, and focused on her reading. She and the others would figure this out soon enough.

Anzu fell asleep with her book opened and laying across her stomach, so she wasn't awake to get Honda and Yugi up at noon. Jounouchi woke up around 1:00, and was confused. He had a huge headache and felt like crap. He realized he had been sleeping in a corner, tangled up in a sheet, his black t-shirt half on (one arm through the sleeve was the only thing keeping it on) and his denim jacket sleeves were tied around his neck like he had tried to make it into a cape. He stumbled out of his nest-like sleeping area, removing his jacket, and slipping his other arm back into its sleeve. He tripped over a few objects, and fell on Honda who was sleeping on a matt in the middle of the floor, which woke him up.

"Honda?" Jounouchi asked, rubbing his knee, which he had hurt when he fell.

"Jounouchi!" Honda pushed the other boy off him hard.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know you were lying there!" Jounouchi snapped. "Don't be all bitchy on me!"

"What's going on?" Yugi rubbed his eyes, waking up. "Jounouchi-kun, you're awake."

"Oops!" Anzu woke up, suddenly. "I'm sorry, I guess I fell asleep!"

"Hey…" Jounouchi suddenly felt nervous. Why did he not remember last night? "Um…did we uh… Honda did we go to that party last night?" Jounouchi asked hopefully, remembering Honda, and plans for a party. Maybe he just got really drunk at that party, and they invited Anzu and Yugi to go too…

"No, that's TONIGHT, you idiot, and I don't think I'm going to go with you anymore. I don't think you should go after how retarded you got last night." Honda snapped.

"Honda, we said we were going to TALK to him, not ATTACK him." Anzu scolded. Jounouchi became more nervous.

"How much did I drink last night? I feel totally hung over." He admitted. "I'm hoping I was with you guys, right?"

"No." Honda said coldly. "We don't know WHERE you were. WE were at a movie and found you trying to catch "angels" on a parking meter."

"What?" Jounouchi, suddenly remembered the faces of the most beautiful angels and their singing. He remembered wishing he could fly like them.

"You had THIS in your pocket." Honda held up the blotter Kaiba had found. He had taken it out of Jounouchi's jacket pocket when they got to Yugi's. "Wanna explain?"

"I…I can't remember…" Jounouchi stopped seeing, and was lost in his thoughts. What happened? What did he…He suddenly remembered. He was with Hirutani yesterday, and the rest of the gang…He had flashes of memories from that night. Hirutani sniffing cocaine, the guys doing buckets, the 26 of vodka, the skull blotter being given to him, the mermaid… "Oh shit." Jounouchi muttered.

"Jounouchi-kun, we're your friends. We want to help you. Please tell us the truth!" Yugi put his hand on Jounouchi's shoulder.

"You DID go back to them, and you LIED to me. WHY?" Honda shoved Yugi aside, and grabbed Jounouchi by the scruff of his shirt, and shook him.

"BECAUSE!" Jounouchi kicked Honda away. "It's not of your f'kin business so stay the hell out of it!"

"Please, Jounouchi, if they're forcing you to join them, you can tell us. We'll find a way to get you out from under that guy's thumb for good!" Anzu was getting pissed at Honda for making Jounouchi turn hostile on them, and was trying to get the situation calm again.

"I'm NOT being forced to join them; I went back because I WANTED to. For REAL."

"IDIOT!" Honda yelled, fighting the urge to kill his best friend.

"What do you guys care! It's not like I can't still hang out with you- Hirutani is allowing me to have both lives. I don't have to choose or anything like all the other times."

"You could have been really hurt last night." Yugi said sadly. "You were crazy."

"Kaiba even saw you like that! We tried to allow you to keep some dignity, but you were being so STUPID, we had to ask him for help. Kaiba was the one that found the blotter." Honda explained. Jounouchi was devastated that Kaiba would now have some serious ammo against him, but he didn't let that show on his face.

"So what?" he shrugged.

"WHY are you back with them?" Honda asked, getting irritated with how Jounouchi just didn't seem to care.

"I told you it wasn't your business." Jounouchi said coldly, glaring. Anzu decided it was her turn to pull out the big guns.

"What would your sister think had she have seen you? Would she still look up to you if she saw her big brother behaving like that?"

"That's not fair Anzu!" Jounouchi snapped. "Don't talk about Shizuka."

"Please, we don't like seeing you like this. It scares me, worries Yugi, and upsets Honda."

"I'm not upset! I'm just really, really mad!"

"You guys, just piss off ok?" Jounouchi started to leave, but Honda wouldn't allow it. He grabbed the blond by the shoulder and pushed him into the wall.

"Honda!" Anzu gasped.

"Watch it Honda!" Jounouchi growled.

"You're not going anywhere until you start talking." Honda threatened. "I won't just sit back and watch my best friend kill himself! Acid never leaves your system! It permanently fucks with your brain!"

"I don't need you to baby me, Honda!" Jounouchi tried to push Honda off him, but Honda's anger seemed to give him extra strength, where as Jounouchi's hang over was hindering his strength.

"Yes you do." Honda stated quietly. Jounouchi always tried so hard to be the toughest, to be independent and to be grown up. But Jounouchi never really did grow up. The innocence of childhood was ripped away from him at a young age, but he never actually matured. He was stuck in this mental state of adolescence, as if he was still 12 or something, no matter how hard he tried to act otherwise. "And it doesn't matter to us. I know I'll always be around to look out for you, just like I know you're always watching out for me. Why do you always have to fight this fact? Why do you always need to prove yourself?"

"You don't understand!" Jounouchi seemed to give up his struggle.

"What don't I understand?" Honda asked, now sounding like he was trying to be understanding and empathic, unlike before when he was angry and violent. His grip loosened slightly, almost as a reward for Jounouchi, and to encourage him to continue talking.

"You can't understand, 'cause your not like me. None of you guys can relate."

"We'll try." Honda said quietly, as Jounouchi's voice was barely a whisper now.

"No!" Jounouchi pushed Honda away and tried to make his escape. Honda grabbed him again and the two broke out into a fight. Jounouchi punched Honda in the gut, and Honda kicked Jounouchi in the knee. The two had ended up on the ground and were rolling around, tying to beat the other into pulp. Honda finally managed to put Jounouchi in a headlock.

"Guys, please stop!" Anzu pleaded.

"You guys just don't get it! You guys make me so mad!" Jounouchi squirmed to get out of his friends grip.

"What did we do?" Yugi asked, worried.

"Nothing on purpose!" Jounouchi said, stopping his squirming. He was upsetting Yugi and Anzu, and he didn't mean too. He didn't like upsetting them, because they seemed so sensitive. He was worried that Yugi was going to take this personally now. Honda on the other hand, he knew Honda rarely took anything to heart when Jounouchi was angry- or hung over for that matter. "You guys just…" he decided there was no point in fighting with them anymore. "You guys just make me hate myself. Everyone respects you guys."

"Explain." Honda released Jounouchi, and sat on the bed.

"Yugi is respected by everyone he comes into contact with. He's a great duelist, he's a good person- he helps people. When I help people, they ignore that I did and say that I didn't do anything, or they give someone else all the credit- and it doesn't matter what place I get in any tournament. They always say I suck. Anzu, lots of people admire you in our class, and in other classes. Teachers trust you and respect you. The kids at school all hate me and use me as a scapegoat, and so do the teachers. They all think I'm just a bad kid. Honda, you're also respected by kids and teachers at the school. Ever notice when there was a problem the kids would go to YOU, but the only time anyone asked me for help was to get their revenge on some bullies? And you all have real families that care about you, and love you no matter what… I only have Shizuka, and she doesn't even know who I am anymore- that's the only reason she still likes me."

"That's not true, we respect you!" Yugi tried to comfort his best friend. In this little circle of friends, everyone cared about Jounouchi the most it seemed. He was Honda's best friend, Yugi's best friend, Mai's best friend (or more? It was up in the air now) and Anzu cared about him like he was her brother. When Jounouchi almost died in his battle with Marik, everyone was so scared for him. It was like the last straw for a lot of them- including him self. How could Jounouchi feel this way, when so many cared about him?

"Yea right, you guys really respect me. How many times did you guys doubt me during Battle City and Duelist Kingdom? You guys didn't think I could hear how many times you guys said I was going to lose or something? You guys made fun of me when Kaiba beat me- you weren't even there for me! You guys always told me to back down, or let someone else do it for me. You had no faith in me at all. You guys even forgot I was dueling in battle city half a dozen times!" Honda knew that last one was targeted at him mostly. He forgot several times- mostly because he was too busy with Shizuka.

"I'm sorry dude. We didn't know you felt that way- but we should have." Honda admitted. He knew all to well how fragile Jounouchi's ego was. It always seemed like Jounouchi as a bit full of himself, but that was a defense mechanism Jounouchi had been using since middle school. Talk yourself up, and hopefully people will believe you and back off. If people knew how low his self esteem actually was, well, Jounouchi would feel a little too vulnerable for comfort. Eventually the tough guy persona became who he was, although inside he was really unsure of himself. But he had to be cocky because a rule of survival was "always act like you're in control of every situation".

"Whatever." Jounouchi looked towards the door, arms crossed. He sighed, knowing he was going to have to make peace with them really quick if he ever wanted to get out of there. "Kay, look guys, I see that this…" he pointed to the mess in Yugi's room "…is inappropriate, and I never should have gotten like that, I'm sorry."

"Well, are you going to do this stuff again?" Anzu asked. Jounouchi smiled, and patted her cheek, before leaving the room. No one tried to stop him this time. "What, was that a no?"

"I think it was a 'prolly will, but let me worry bout it' if I ever saw one." Honda sighed, watching his friend walk down the street from Yugi's window. "There's just no helping this kid."

"We'll have to keep trying." Yugi stood up, as if he was ready to run after the blond.

"That is of we ever see him again…" Honda muttered.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: A quick chapter- kind of a break after all these LOOOONG chapters. And to those hoping for more Kaiba…well sorry. He's played his part in this, and now he gets to go home and sleep.

Disc: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or anything related.

* * *

Chapter 6

Jounouchi sat along the docks, watching the waves and the odd boat go by. He was hurting. His body was sore, and he wanted to throw up every time he moved in the slightest. He slowly laid himself down on the dock and just stared, tired, sick and sore. Two nights in a row of this nonsense.

He didn't feel like going home. He didn't feel like doing anything. The only thing he really wanted to do was lie there and try to figure out what he was doing with his life. He knew going back to Hirutani was probably one of the worse things he could have done…his sister wouldn't like it, that's for sure. Damn Anzu just had to dredge that up. Jounouchi was suddenly in a mood for fighting. He stood up and decided that's what he really wanted out of his joining Hirutani's gang again. To fight.

Hirutani didn't think it was such a good idea when Jounouchi suggested it to him.

"Jounouchi, you're crazy. Last night half the gang got arrested for breaking and entering into some guy's house while they were stoned- we don't have enough people to take on another gang. Especially when the only reason we would be doing it is because YOU feel like fighting." Hirutani shook his head.

"We have more then enough." Jounouchi wished he was a little- no, a LOT taller, so he could look Hirutani straight in the eye. His challenges never seemed as threatening as they could, due to this height difference.

"No. We don't." Hirutani put a cigarette into his mouth, and looked down at Jounouchi, like he was some sort of idiot. "You'll get to fight, no worries. Just not today."

"No! I want to go now." Jounouchi crossed his arms.

"Oh don't be such a brat, its not becoming." Hirutani flicked is index finger into Jounouchi's forehead, and it rather smarted, not that Jounouchi would allow his leader to know that. "Use your head."

"I know the few of us can take on anyone."

"You're fucking retarded." Hirutani rolled his eyes. Jounouchi looked at him coldly.

"Well too bad for you, because I already pissed off that motorcycle gang you were always so afraid of. They'll be looking for a fight with us any time now."

"You…YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Hirutani grabbed Jounouchi's hair and slammed the blond into the concrete floor as hard as he could. "What were you thinking?" he decided to kick the boy while he was at his feet, just to make sure he got the point that he had done something really dumb and bad, and was being punished.

"We'll take them down, and it'll be the end of them! We might even get a motorcycle out of the deal if we don't ruin them all." Jounouchi stood, preparing himself for another blow.

"They have motorcycles you stupid, stupid punk!" Hirutani grabbed Jounouchi's neck and lifted the boy off the ground so that they were eye to eye. "You just pretty much fucked us over. They will kill us. If the two of us happen to survive the encounter, expect me to kill you in a slow, agonizing way."

"We WON'T lose!" Jounouchi stared hard into Hirutani's eyes. The leader couldn't believe it. Was Jounouchi really ignorant, or did he have a plan of some sort? He showed no fear of the consequences. He recalled once when he challenged another high school and allowed ONLY Jounouchi to fight that entire gang- and he won…but this was different. They were older kids with motorcycles!

"Hey boss, what's going to happen?" One of the members asked, voice shaking. "Should we take off?"

"And surrender our home base? Forget it. We'll fight. We'll probably die, but we'll die doing what we do best." Hirutani dropped Jounouchi, and pulled a box out from under the table. It had all sorts of weapons in it.

"Grab something to fight with." He ordered. The others immediately began rooting through the box, looking for the best weapon. Jounouchi didn't move from his spot. "Jounouchi, get something to fight with."

"No, I got everything I need right here." Jounouchi said coolly.

"You'll die!" a purple haired member snapped. "Stop trying to prove yourself! This isn't a typical high school gang; these guys are serious."

"What and we're not? Our gang was feared by all others, until this stupid gang came along. But we'll prove who's on top." Jounouchi thrust his fist into his palm as an emphasis. All went silent when they heard the distant sound of motorcycles.

"We're fucked." A short member cringed. A motorcycle burst through the door, with a chain. Another followed holding a steel bar. Jounouchi smirked, as the rest tried to be anything but afraid. The first motorcyclist whipped his chain at one boy, nearly taking his head off, but luck was with the boy, and he ducked just in time. The biker with the bar was coming right at Jounouchi, ready to break his ribs with his iron weapon. Jounouchi didn't even move. At the last possible minute, Jounouchi ducked, as he did so, he used his switchblade in his pocket with the hopes of slashing the biker's tires. His plan didn't work so well, unfortunately, but that didn't discourage him.

Hirutani was being targeted by the first biker at this point, and he was attempting to knock the guy off his motorcycle. One boy threw his knife at the biker, and it managed to impale his arm, making him loose control and he crashed. Jounouchi gave the thumbs up to the kid with good (or really lucky) aim. Hirutani ran up to the biker, and began pummeling him before he could even pull the knife out of his arm.

The guy who remained on his bike was still picking on Jounouchi. Unfortunately the boy that had threw the knife that took out the first guy, tried his luck with this one as well, and almost skewered Jounouchi. This distracted the blond, giving the biker the opportunity he wanted. Instead of knocking Jounouchi's head off with his bar, he grabbed his shirt and dragged him.

Jounouchi screamed in anger as he struggled to get control of the situation, but the biker dragged him outside just the same.

"Jounouchi!" a senior member cried out. He chased after the biker, followed by a few of his comrades. Hirutani saw this, and decided to follow, kicking his enemy in the skull one more time for good measure just before leaving.

Jounouchi was released and fell, rolling on the ground for a few meters. He was almost run over by a bike, but moved away fast enough. There were ten to 20 more out here, and most of them were circling him, trying to hit him with chains and bars. Jounouchi was faring well with dodging their attacks, but he knew he couldn't do this forever. He knew exactly what he needed to do. Just as a biker was about to hit him with their chain, he managed to get it wrapped around his arm, and used it to pull himself onto the bike.

"What the fuck?" The biker yelled.

"Hello." Jounouchi punched the guy, and threw him off the bike. He took the chain and as he drove towards other bikers, he whipped it at one of the biker's hand, which made him drive into one of his allies. This started a domino effect of motorcycles driving into motorcycles, or crashing in front of other bikes, which had no choice, but to drive into them and crash themselves.

"Whoa." The purple haired guy's mouth dropped. Hirutani wasted no time, and began taking his baseball bat to the still conscious members that crashed. The others followed his example. There were still a few bikers left, who grabbed one of their friends so that there were two bikers on each bike. The second biker was standing, with a weapon in hand ready to take Jounouchi out.

"Hirutani!" Jounouchi called out, extending a hand to his blue haired leader. He decided he would play the same game. He pulled Hirutani onto the bike with him, and instructed him to drive the bike for him. Jounouchi used Hirutani to keep his balance, and to stay on the bike, and Hirutani just prayed his right hand man knew what he was doing.

A biker was beside them, and took a swing at the blond and struck him in the gut. Jounouchi held Hirutani's shoulders tightly as he tried to recover quickly. He then round house kicked his opponent right off his bike, which was difficult to do standing on a motorcycle and holding onto a guy's shoulders. He then took his chain and whipped the driver of the bike, and he crashed. The remaining bikers took off quickly, and a few of those who were knocked off their bikes but were still standing, ran after them.

Hirutani stopped the bike and Jounouchi jumped off.

"Told you we'd acquire a bike. Can it be mine?" he grinned. Hirutani looked at him, un-amused, and then slapped him hard across the face.

"You idiot."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: This chapter is kind of like weird, right. I did that on purpose for an effect, so don't judge it too harshly. My editor jumped the gun a bit and started to like give me the what for, but I was like "now listen you, you just got to wait, see?" only like 3 or 4 chapters to go now guys. thanks for all the reviews too, eh. They give my the wamn'n'fuzzies...maybe. lol

Disc: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything related.

* * *

Chapter 7

Of the bikers that survived the beatings they had received, Jounouchi asked that he could have a few words with them. Hirutani shrugged and went back into his hide out, after ordering a few newer members to go deal with the bodies of those that didn't survive.

"Jounouchi, where do you usually put dead bodies?" One asked, unsure of what to do, but not wanting to ask Hirutani.

"I dunno, we never really kill our enemies. They probably should have worn helmets." Jounouchi then turned to his living enemies. "Remember that for next time. You guys have no sympathy from me, if you're going to be reckless like that." He crouched down in front of the one that looked to be the highest rank of the bunch, and smirked. He pulled his switchblade out and held it to the guy's throat. "My name is Jounouchi."

"Jounouchi?" He choked, like he was shocked. "You're not supposed to be in this gang anymore! Rumor has it that-"

"Fuck rumor, I'm back, so you just make sure everyone knows that OK?" he made a thin, but long, cut on the bikers face, and then stood up. "Get the fuck out of here, and take your dead with ya." He kicked the biker in the gut and nodded at his comrades, pleasantly. As soon as he entered the hide out, he was offered a drink to celebrate. Before he knew it, he was shooting heroin with Hirutani and the guy that took down the first cyclist.

It didn't take long for word to get to the other gangs, and they received more challenges everyday. All the other gangs that were generally feared by others wanted to try their luck at taking down Hirutani's gang, now that it was back to elite status. Jounouchi spent more and more time with the gang, not ever wanting to miss a fight. He couldn't remember the last time he went home, and Yugi, Honda and Anzu seemed like made up people in his head. He sometimes questioned if they ever existed, but didn't want to seek them out. He was pretty much hammered or high all the time now. He didn't have any concept of time anymore, and just seemed to be going with the flow, although he didn't know what the flow was.

One night he was lying in his room, coming off a trip. He had ripped down all the posters, pictures and sexy girls off his wall in a fit of rage and confusion only minutes ago, and was now staring at the bare walls, thinking. He didn't know what was happening to him. His head hurt, and he wanted to vomit. He felt absolutely horrible, and all he wanted in the world was another hit of heroin- or anything for that matter. He needed to make this shitty feeling go away. He rolled off his bed, and rummaged through his bottom drawer, finding some liquor he had stolen from his father. He didn't measure any shots and didn't mix it; he just took several large gulps of the fluid. He leaned against his bed and took a few more large sips. As he drank he began to question his life. He began to feel angry at everything. Everything was wrong and everything was to blame for his problems in life. He stood up, wobbly and drunk, and pulled his knife out of his jacket pocket. He suddenly felt compelled to hurt himself. He stumbled backwards and hit his desk. He leaned against it while he sliced his hand with the knife, and then threw the knife to the ground.

The blood poured from his hand and he watched it. Why did he do that? He shook his head and wiped his hand on the wall. He then began to write with the blood on the wall, and when his hand stopped bleeding, he started to use a permanent marker he had found on his desk. He then engraved the same sentence with his knife when the marker was dried up. He was obsessed with making sure this sentence was all over his room. He tripped over a shirt that was on his floor and fell to the ground. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling fan as it spun around and around.

He lied there, feeling like he was about to die from the withdrawal from some of the more addictive drugs he took. He spasmed and was sweating so much. He needed cocaine or heroin, one of the two- preferably heroin. He crawled to his drawer and rummaged through it until he found a needle. He filled the needle, and then took a belt around his upper arm and pumped his arm. He injected the needle and sighed in ecstasy. He fell back and lay on his floor for hours completely lost in his own temporary better world. It wasn't Heaven at this point anymore, not like it use to be. It was just better then feeling weak, sick and useless. He almost felt normal again.

His father peeked in, having only gotten home a few minutes ago, and looked at his son's room. It was a horrible mess of clothes, empty alcohol bottles, needles, dirty spoons, the garbage can had vomit in it… and his boy was lying in the middle of this hell pale and sickly looking. He was slightly disturbed about the bloody writing on the walls that read "I just don't know anymore". He said nothing and shut the door. That was the last time Jounouchi's father would see him, since Jounouchi left the next morning.

Things were beginning to get out of control, and Jounouchi couldn't really tell. He had done things, and had no memory of doing them. For example, he had apparently slit the throat of an opposing gang's leader. He also nearly drowned himself in the sink during an acid trip, and stabbed one of his own comrades in the leg because he looked at him the wrong way. Jounouchi was beginning to feel more miserable about joining this gang then ever. Sure his name was well known, he even couldn't go on the streets without someone trying to kill him now. The police almost arrested him twice, and he believed he remembered them saying something along the lines of "we thought we'd seen the last of you" which was almost flattering since they remembered his name from three years ago. He just couldn't deal with the addictions anymore though. If he came off a high, he'd become desperate, willing to do anything to get back to that original high. He was losing his mind. This whole ordeal wasn't about being respected and acknowledged for his skills, it wasn't even about the thrill of fighting anymore. The drugs numbed that thrill away. Now it was only about the damn drugs and alcohol.

Jounouchi sat on a cliff, staring down as the waves crashed into the rocks below. He just felt so lost. This had not been what he wanted at all. He just wanted respect. Now he realized that making a name for your self in the underground society really means dick all. It just means you're a no good punk, and you're the best of the no good punks. What a winner he was. Hirutani's "right hand" lackey. He was just being lead on a very short leash by Hirutani. A seemingly shorter leash then when he had originally joined in middle school. Hirutani was stricter with him and was babying him just like his friends. He saw Jounouchi as a valuable asset. He wouldn't even allow Jounouchi to be alone unless he was somewhat sober for fear someone may try and kill him. Jounouchi felt so pathetic. Hirutani had control over him from day one. He pretty much owned Jounouchi, and the blond couldn't remember how that happened.

There was no dignity or respect in that.

"I know what you're going through Jounouchi." he heard a female from behind him. He turned, shocked.

"Mai!"

"I've been trying to make a name for myself too. I just want to be recognized as a great duelist, and be respected, but as long as there are people like Yugi around, it'll never happen." Mai stood beside him.

"Oh Mai." Jounouchi stood up. "What do I do? I'm so fucked up, and my life is fucked up!"

"You know exactly what you have to do." She looked at him, her violet eyes penetrating into his brown eyes. His mind screamed at him to just hold her and tell her everything. He ignored it.

"I know, but I'm a bit afraid to do it." He blushed. Telling Mai he was afraid was difficult to do since he wanted her to see him as some sort of fearless hero who would do anything for her, but he couldn't lie to her either.

"You won't be alone." She took his hand and smiled. He smiled back, and began to inch a little bit closer to her face. They lightly kissed each other on the lips, nothing too passionate, but it was enough. He knew right there and then that he wanted her more then anyone in the world. He was frightened and confused, and she seemed to relate. He was convinced they were meant to be together, but, he knew they never would be. But still, it was now or never to tell her the truth.

"Mai…I…I love you, a lot. You mean the world to me." She simply smiled, and then stared ahead. He looked ahead as well, and they watched the sun set as they stood hand in hand. The wind blew their blond hair, and the waves crashing into the cliff made a soothing white noise. They both seemed to know that as soon as the sun set they'd have to take action, although no words had been spoken to determine this. Eventually the sun disappeared and together they took a step over the cliff and fell.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: some of you may have thought the story was over…well it ain't over till it says "the end" so rest easy, there are still a couple more chapters! That was intense eh? well maybe not so intense…just tell me it was so I feel good.

Disc: I don't own Yu-gi-oh! Or anything related.

* * *

Chapter 8

"AAAAH!" Jounouchi screamed, waking up. He was lying on his stomach, and propped himself up on his arms. It was dark, no one was around, and he had passed out in the streets. The last thing he remembered was being so drunk he was shaking, and didn't even recognize this part of town that well. He wondered why Hirutani let him go. Typically Hirutani wouldn't let him out by himself unless he was clear headed, because he knew how many people were trying to kill him.

One thing was for sure he had one thing on his mind and nothing would keep him from doing it. He wanted to go home.

He burst through the apartment door and found his dad sleeping on the couch, a half full beer bottle in his hand. Jounouchi didn't really know what he was doing, and caught himself off guard when he ran to his dad and started crying into the man's shoulder. He hugged him and just sobbed, uncontrollably. The senior Jounouchi was woken up by this, and was confused. Katsuya never ever even tried to hug him since he was a little kid. This was almost scary- which was why he didn't freak on the boy and throw him into a wall. Instead he wrapped his arms around his pale son, and rubbed his back.

"Katsuya? I haven't seen you in days- this isn't like you. Where have you been?" He was really glad he was only slightly drunk right now. He was in that stage of being really friendly and it seemed important to him at that time to be a dad for the first time in a decade. Jounouchi looked up into his dad's face, eyes blood shot, hair greasy from not being washed, he had obviously been wearing the same clothes for some time, and he had cuts and bruises everywhere. He looked like absolute crap.

"I…I really need help." The boy cried, clutching his father's shirt, and burying his face once more. "Help me please!"

"Katsuya…what are you doing to yourself?" The man sounded so disappointed. His son was becoming like him already. "Why don't you explain what's happened."

"I…I…" Jounouchi turned his head so that his head was still lying on his father's chest, listening to the heart beat rhythm, and so that he was able to talk. "I went back to this gang I was in a few years back, and it just got out of control. I don't know what to do. I'm in too deep now to pull out…but I can't take it anymore. It's killing me. The drugs, the drinking, the days on end without a second of sleep…I can't even stand the fights anymore…I'm so tired." A few tears were still streaming from his eyes. "I dreamed I killed myself, with this girl I love, and then I woke up on the streets and I don't know how I got there…"

"Am I really the best person to talk to?" His father asked.

"I dunno where else to go!" Jounouchi cried, almost pleading. He thought that his friends probably wanted nothing to do with him now, and he certainly couldn't talk to the gang about it, or Shizuka. His father was the only one. "Please, please Tou-san, can't you help me? Please?" He sounded so desperate; it almost broke his father's heart.

"I don't know what I can do." The man began massaging his boy's head with one hand while the other still rubbed his back. "I think though…you should probably not be in that gang anymore."

"I know, but I can't get out now. It's all I have left!"

"Why don't you go have a bath or something, and then get some damn sleep?" His father pushed him off and forced him to stand up. "Quit crying about it, and be a man, like I've always taught you to be."

"Yes Tou-san." Jounouchi said quietly, and then turned to go to the bathroom. He shut the door behind him and turned the water on. He stripped naked and got in, allowing the hot water to drench his hair. It felt so good to be getting clean, despite the stinging of his cuts, but he couldn't relax. He was feeling anger, frustration, anxiety and depression all at once. He was even more upset that he was going to become his father and he knew it. He didn't want to, he had this ideal future planned, with a wife he loved, a kid or two, a dog, a nice job and a nice home. He wanted a life his father and mother didn't allow him to experience- but it seemed life had something else planned for him.

He pictured his life in 10 years from now…Honda would have a little nuclear family and he'd work as an engineer or something like that. Yugi and Anzu would be married, living in America where Anzu has a famous dancing career, and Yugi is the duel monsters champion of the world. Mai would marry some handsome, rich man and live a life of luxury. Probably Kaiba (this thought made Jounouchi so angry, he squished the bar of soap beyond recognition)! He on the other hand, if he was still alive would either be in jail, or living in some shitty dilapidated house in the worst part of town, with his trashy girlfriend who he would probably hate, but just wanted around to fuck, and maybe he'd have some stupid delinquent son, like himself. The house would be full of empty beer cans and bottles, and Jounouchi would struggle to keep a job while supporting his heroin addiction and alcoholism. Then, one day, he meets up with all his old friends again, and they would finally see him for what he really is. A big fucking loser.

"I am NOT helping myself by thinking like this." Jounouchi shook his head. He could control his life, couldn't he? He didn't have to end up like that. He needed some sleep, that's what he really needed. He finished in the shower and dried himself off quickly. He went into his bedroom and threw on a pair of boxers then buried himself in his blankets on his bed. He felt like he hadn't been there in years. He really wondered how much time had passed. Days? Weeks? Maybe a month or two, in any case it didn't matter right now. He would get some sleep and think about it later.

Once he fell asleep, his father came in. He had gone though his son's room while he was showering and removed all the drugs and alcohol, and bolted the window shut. He double checked Jounouchi's clothes to make sure there were no drugs in them, and then locked the door so his son couldn't get out. It was the only way he thought he could help. After a few days he was sure he'd get over the withdrawal and addiction.

Jounouchi woke up very late the next day. He felt groggy and he hurt. He reached into his bottom drawer looking for some of his stash, but was terrified to find that there was none. He dug through it in a panic just to double check. Gone. It was all gone! The liquor, the heroin, the pot-ALL of it! He ran to the door with the intentions of asking his dad if he took his stash, but it was locked. He tried to escape from his window, but it too wouldn't open. He sighed, and flopped on the bed. He was ok for now, but he knew it wouldn't be long before he needed a hit and bad.

It was his second day, and the hallucinations were starting to hit. Sweat was pouring from him like tears as he lay on the bed, twitching. He had dark rings around his eyes, and his pupils were dilated. He rolled off the bed, and crawled to the door. He began scratching it and pounding on it, screaming. He tried the knob again, and desperately tried to break it down. He tried to break through the window, but when he and his dad had moved in, they made sure they had very good windows that couldn't be broken through.

"PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! I NEED A HIT! FUCKING CHRIST!" He screamed over and over again. His father was generally gone most of the day, but at that moment he was sitting in the living room, listening to his son scratching at the door. He knew it would be a painful detox, but there was nothing he could do for him. Katsuya would just have to ride it out.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: oh my! We're nearing the end! Sorry this one took so long to post, it was my reading week, so I was away from my computer. Good thing you're all so patient or something.

Disc: I don't own Yu-gi-oh! Or anything related.

* * *

Chapter 9

"Has anyone seen Jounouchi in a while?" Anzu asked.

"Nope," Honda frowned. "Not at all."

"I sure hope he's ok…" Yugi looked down at his puzzle, and the other two knew he was now seeking comfort from his stronger half, so they just talked amongst themselves.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Jounouchi in the last couple of days?" The purple haired member asked the gang, while shooting some heroin.

"Nope, not at all." Hirutani shrugged. "He'll be back. He'll be desperate for his next hit." He was certain he would be. He shook his head, and rubbed his temples. He hadn't had a good sleep in a while. "Guys, I'm going to go lie down, and get some rest." He left the group and went into his room, shutting the door.

"He's stressed." One of the older members stated. "I've been here for a while, and I know when he's stressed. He doesn't think Jounouchi's coming back."

"So?"

"Well, we're still a target. If Jounouchi's not here we're going to get pulverized. Especially since Jounouchi killed that gang leader. That gang is not going to let it go, and other gangs will think we're dangerous too. They'll probably go to great lengths to destroy us."

"Shitty." The purple haired one shook his head.

Hirutani sighed, when he shut his door. He hoped that Jounouchi would be back soon. He had this horrible feeling that Jounouchi died of an O.D or something… he resolved to go look for him if he didn't show up soon. They really needed the kid. Jounouchi seemed to be either a source of good luck or a really strong and smart fighter. Probably both. Jounouchi should have died too many times, but just kept coming.

"Miss me?" Jounouchi was leaning against the back wall, arms crossed.

"Where have you been?" Hirutani demanded.

"At home. I felt like sleeping." Jounouchi decided it best to leave out how he was locked in his room going insane for the last few days. He pushed himself away from the wall, and walked into the light. His skin was still pale, and he still had the dark rings under his eyes, but he was now at least clean and seemed dangerously sober. "What, did I need your permission to do that?"

"You could have let us know. We're wanted dead by every gang in this f'kin city and you take off! I thought they got to you!"

"Heh, sure. It was a good plan, Hirutani, to keep me so f'kin drunk and high 24/7, and getting me addicted to your drugs to keep me here, under your control. Really good. Too bad you let me escape your grasp for one day, because now I'm fully myself, and I'm not happy." Jounouchi sounded dangerous. "Let me make one thing clear to you: I QUIT. You know why I quit? Because you are a mother fucker that took over my life. I will not be like some stupid attack dog for you, like your dumb pet."

"You can't quit. You came back to us. You little bitch!" Hirutani lunged at Jounouchi and pinned him to the floor. The blond didn't even blink. "I gave you everything you wanted! You wanted to join, I let you! You wanted to keep your friends from school, I agreed. You wanted respect, I gave it to you. You wanted a name for yourself, and its there! You were lonely, I kept you company. Now you want to leave? FORGET IT. It's a two way street, I did my part, you do yours. You belong to me and you belong to this gang!" Jounouchi just glared in response. "I won't let you leave, never again. If it takes having you drugged up to stay here, then fine." Hirutani grabbed a needle off his table. It was full of a clear fluid, probably a sedative of some sort. He didn't get the chance to use it, because Jounouchi kicked him off.

"No, see, I was going to let you live, but now, I'm going to have to kill you, because you're just too fucked in the head to be allowed to live. Like I said, I want out, and I'll do anything to get away from you permanently." Jounouchi pulled his switchblade out, and swung at his former leader. Hirutani dodged it and kneed Jounouchi in the gut, then punched him in the face. The knife fell onto the floor. Jounouchi punched Hirutani in the face, and then elbowed him on the other side of the face, followed by another punch with his other hand, knocking Hirutani over.

"Oh you bitch!" Hirutani kicked Jounouchi's legs out from under him, and he fell onto the floor. Hirutani sat on Jounouchi, straddling his stomach, and punched him over and over again. Jounouchi kicked his legs upwards and managed to throw the larger boy off of him. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring his dizziness from the repeated punches. Hirutani stood, and caught Jounouchi's foot as the younger boy tried to round house him. He flung Jounouchi into the back wall. The blond was too dazed to notice that Hirutani had picked him up and set him on a chair and tied him to it. After a moment Jounouchi came to his senses, and tried to stand up.

"You fucker! This is cheating! You fight dirty."

"I'm not going to kill you Jounouchi-chan."

"Oh you did not call me that. I'm going to rip your tongue out of your head!" Jounouchi seethed, But Hirutani just chuckled and continued.

"Do you remember this little toy?" he held up a stun gun and smirked. "One hit with this thing, and you won't be in any position to rip anyone's tongue out." Jounouchi recognized the weapon from before. He couldn't let Hirutani use it on him, or he'd be done. He'd become completely vulnerable, and he didn't want to think of what they might do to him. He kicked Hirutani in the groin, causing the other to fall to his knees and drop the stun gun. "You bitch, I'll get you." Hirutani looked up, just in time to see Jounouchi standing, and swinging the chair at him. Jounouchi broke the chair over Hirutani's head, and smirked.

"You should have made sure I didn't pick up my knife when you had me on the floor." He waved his knife in triumph. Hirutani shook his head, and lunged at the shorter boy. He gasped when he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He looked down and saw Jounouchi's knife up to the hilt in his stomach.

"Oh…god…" Hirutani choked out. Blood began to drench his shirt, and Jounouchi removed his knife, and pushed Hirutani off of him. Jounouchi stood and stared down at his former leader, unsure of what to really do. "Jou…Jounouchi…are you really…really gonna leave me like this?..." Jounouchi looked away. "I really did…consider you a true friend…"

"I know…I'm sorry." He was about to leave when he saw Hirutani's briefcase… He grabbed it and then left through the window. He got to the closest pay phone and sent an ambulance to the warehouse for Hirutani. He couldn't let him die…plus the police would come there with the ambulance and toss all those guys in jail, solving one of Jounouchi's problems.

Unfortunately Hirutani lost consciousness before the ambulance showed up, and didn't make it through the night because he had lost too much blood. When the gang was interrogated about the death of their leader, they assumed that a rival gang had murdered him. Jounouchi never knew Hirutani died, and no one knew that Jounouchi had killed him.

* * *

Honda yawned, and got up from the couch. It was only 11 pm, but he was pretty tired. He turned off the TV and headed off to his room. Like every night, just before bed, he looked at his phone, and wondered if he should call Jounouchi. Like always, he decided against it, and continued to his room. He opened his door, and blinked. Something was in his bed. He turned on a light, and gasped.

"Jounouchi? Speak of the devil." He almost smiled at his friend, sleeping on his bed. He poked Jounouchi in the cheek until the blond woke up- sort of.

"Huh? Wha? Oh s'ry, Honna I'll move…" Jounouchi rolled out of the bed, and stumbled over to the couch in Honda's room. It was the old one from the living room, but his parents got a new one yesterday, so they put the old one in his room. Right now it was just sitting out in the open. Jounouchi bumped into it, and laid on the head resting part, instead of the actual couch part. He used one arm as a pillow and let his legs and other arm dangle on either side, and just slept. Honda shrugged. Whatever worked for Jounouchi was fine by him.

Jounouchi woke up the next morning, to Honda cursing.

"Damn fucking couch! It's getting in the way of EVERYTHING!" Jounouchi sat up and rubbed his eyes, falling in the process. He was lucky and fell on the couch part. "Oh sorry, dude. I didn't mean to wake you."

"No! It's ok! It is OK cuz I never asked to…sleep…on your….When did you get this couch, dude?"

"Yesterday."

"This was in the TV room before wasn't it?"

"Indeed." Honda sat beside him on the couch. "I need a better spot for it." He studied Jounouchi for a moment. He seemed a bit beat up and sickly pale but otherwise like normal everyday Jounouchi. "What's up man, I haven't seen you in a while?"

"I was really sleepy, and I didn't feel like going all the way to my house. Yours came up first. Plus I needed to talk to someone."

"Well…what's up?"

"I quit." Jounouchi laid back on the couch.

"For real?"

"Forever." Jounouchi nodded. "I'm so sorry I was such an ass to you and the others. I didn't know what to do, and it seemed like the only thing to do. I just remembered how pissed Hirutani was when I first quit- he said he needed me because I was one of the best. Then I remembered those couple of times Hirutani went to great lengths to make me come back… I just felt like that must be where I belong, because it's the only thing that gets me any respect. I know other wise now. It lost me more respect and dignity then it gained me." Jounouchi sighed and leaned forward on his knees, his blond hair falling into his eyes. "I can't seem to hold onto dignity for more then five minutes anyway…so I guess it don't matter."

"Man, you know we don't care about that crap. We like you for who you are. Always have, always will. I mean, think about it. What's the meaning of life?" Honda turned and looked at him seriously. Jounouchi stared at him.

"That's way too philosophical for me, man. I don't even understand the relevance"

"Relationships. Respect, dignity or becoming a somebody are not the meaning of life, but relationships are. Therefore having your friends should mean more to you then gaining respect." Honda explained.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, or why we got onto this tangent, so let's just go to Yugi's so I can apologize to him and Anzu." Jounouchi stood up, and stretched. "I mean, lets be honest, I've been a bit of an ass to you guys." He picked up the briefcase and waited for Honda to stand.

"Well, we really missed ya, dude." Honda smiled, patting his best friend on the back. "It just wasn't the same without you…there was no one to make fun of, and no one to entertain us with their stupidity!" Honda laughed and ducked when Jounouchi went to smack him.

"See! SEE! This is why I joined my old gang!" Jounouchi tried not to laugh as he chased Honda into the hall, threatening him with the briefcase. Things seemed to be back to normal once more, and all seemed to be forgiven and forgotten.

* * *

as done as it sounds there's still a wee bit more, eh, so just stay tuned- or don't...but you prolly will just for kicks.


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